Ice-making machines are well known in the art and many designs have been considered. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,796,441 to Goldstein discloses an ice-making machine comprising a housing having a cooled wall. A eutectic mixture is passed across the wall to be cooled below its freezing point and form ice. A blade continuously wipes the wall to move the fluid away from the wall and into the body of the fluid. The blades are moved by a drive means at a rate such that the surface is wiped prior to crystallization of the ice on the wall.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,286,332 to Goldstein discloses an ice-making machine comprising a heat exchanger including a generally cylindrical, tubular body defining a generally cylindrical internal surface. The body is formed of corrodible material and has at least one refrigerant passage extending therethrough. End plates are provided at opposite ends of the body. A refrigerant inlet delivers refrigerant to the at least one refrigerant passage and a refrigerant outlet collects refrigerant having passed through the at least one refrigerant passage. An inlet delivers fluid from which ice is to be made into the body to permit the refrigerant to extract heat from the fluid and an outlet permits the egress of ice from the body. A cylindrical sleeve lines the internal surface and is formed from generally non-corrodible material. At least one blade is in contact with the sleeve and is movable about an axis to move across the sleeve and remove cooled fluid therefrom. A drive moves the at least one blade across the sleeve.
Although various ice making machines have been considered, improvements are desired. It is therefore an object at least to provide a novel heat exchanger for an ice-making machine and a novel ice-making machine incorporating the same.